WASTED KNOWLEDGE
East Trenton library branch “reopens,” just not in the way we want
A City of Trenton satellite library closed almost seven years has reopened unofficially as a potential destination for thieves, voracious readers, vagrants, and drug users.
The East Trenton branch located in the 700 block of North Clinton Ave. in the city’s East Ward, one of four shuttered during former Mayor Tony Mack’s term cut short by a federal corruption conviction, allows access through a ground level window.
Judging by the panels on two other windows, no rocket science degree seems necessary to ascertain that this latest library breach mirrors past trespasses.
Large jagged pieces of glass removed from the wooden window were strewn on the ground.
A glimpse inside showed one wall lined with hundreds of books while a metal bookcase near the open window showed movies “Cinderella”, “Little Mermaid” and “Good Night Gorilla”.
The library’s main room looked dry and capable of handling some services.
Mind boggling to think that these books and other items have remained housed through Mack’s three years, an interim mayoral stint with Councilman George Muschal as city leader and three years served by current Mayor Eric Jackson.
Imagine all those books containing thousands of pages of adventure, knowledge and learning potential — just there collecting dust or waiting for someone to start a fire that destroys this historical landmark.
One can only wonder what other magical materials are stored away in rooms throughout the historic East Trenton building known as the Samuel Dickinson house.
The current Trenton Free Public Library established in June 1902, although the city’s book history dates back to 1750 as a startup subscription library by Thomas Cadwalader.
Benjamin Franklin purchased the libraries first fifty books.
Lib.org identifies the Trenton library as “the second oldest Free Public Library in the United States after Franklin’s own Philadelphia Free Public Library.”
Following the 1902 Trenton Free Public Library opening on Academy St, “the Trenton Library expanded into four additional branches. The first branch, Briggs, was established in 1910 and was an immediate success, with 125 books borrowed in less than two hours.”
The Briggs Branch, named after Frank O. Briggs, the mayor when the modern library was first organized, moved to Greenwood Ave. in 1972.
The East Trenton Branch, one of
New Jersey’s designated Historical Places, occupied the 18th century Dickinson mansion, a location initially turned into a library in 1926, and then restored by the Civil Works Administration in 1934.
The Skelton Branch established in 1917 at the Franklin School building, and moved to the corner of Malone and South Broad in 1929, in a beautiful building with high arched windows, an elegant staircase, and locally crafted tile work surrounding the children’s room fireplace.
The Cadwalader Branch opened in 1927, and relocated in 1968 to the old Strand Theater on North Hermitage Avenue.
Lib.org noted “like all of the
branches, the Cadwalader Branch served as a vibrant community center for its neighborhood.” No longer.
Faced with a budget crisis, city officials have opted to spend money on law enforcement, a decayed gambit which never seems to solve our dreaded history of crime, illiteracy and poverty.
There’s a hole in this thinking and another window busted out at the East Trenton Library.
(City officials have been notified about the window. No problem here if someone hustled over there for a free copy of “The Grapes of Wrath”, “The Fire Next Time”, “Slaughterhouse Five” or “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”)